For this edition, the newspaper staff is going to try out a new type of article for you guys: a group movie review of none other than Fifty Shades of Grey. Everybody had their own opinion on this fine cinematic creation and after much debate at our meeting, we all had to share our views with you guys. Comment below if you agree (or even disagree) with our expert opinions.

DRaab: Hearing about this movie was enough for me to vow to never actually see this movie in any way, shape, or media format. The movies I enjoy the most and the ones I like to see have at least some basis in reality. The mark of good fiction is that it is realistic enough that you can really imagine it happening. From what I have heard, Fifty Shades miserably fails that test. It portrays an abusive “fantasy” relationship between Anastasia and Christian that I cannot possibly condone. Words that come to my mind to describe the movie are: morally outrageous, repugnant, and vile filth.

Lauren Bilton: On February 15th, a few of my friends and I went to view this “must-see” movie of 2015. I would not go nearly as far as DRaab to call it “vile filth,” but it surely is a risqué movie. I may be a sucker for rom-coms and movies about love, but I promise you this isn’t any love story. Don’ get me wrong, I didn’t hate the movie; I actually ended up liking it more than I had expected to. Before seeing the movie, I had read the first 50 pages of the novel, unaware of the storyline. Let me tell you: pages 1-50 of the book are completely clean. So here I am sitting in the theater anticipating the movie, thinking “how bad could this be?!” But about 20 minutes into the movie, I realized why people were making such a big deal about it. How are they even allowed to make a movie based solely off of sexual relations and abuse?? The “R” rating is no joke. In Fifty Shades of Grey, Anastasia Steele is a journalism student whose life changes the minute she meets Christian Grey. I will choose to end my review there.

Eric Carey: Honestly, such a steamy flick. I was sweating throughout the whole movie. It was just so mmmmm perfect. Don’t even get me started on the guy who played Christian Grey. O-M-G, can you say hunk? Hunk. There, I said it for you. I often see myself as Anastasia trapped in a rugged, tall, good looking body. On the inside, I’m a beautiful 21-year-old who is attracted to a masochistic weirdo into BDSM. Seriously, the book, the movie, and anything relating to this hot garbage of a franchise should be eradicated. I didn’t watch the movie, but I’ve read some hilarious quotes from the book and I don’t know how anyone can read such schlock without dying laughing.  I got to the word “inner goddess” and it was goodnight, Irene for me, I was done. Yeah this sucks so…. yeah.

Callie MacDonald: An open letter to Anastasia Steele:

Dear Anastasia Steele,

First of all, you have a beautiful name.  I am sorry that people will refrain from naming their children Anastasia for the next five years, out of fear that people will think they are naming their sweet angels after a Fifty Shades character.  Second of all, you need to stop shaking so much.  You look like you are going to pass out the entire movie.  I mean, yeah, I would be intimidated too in the majority of those scenes, but in one scene you were working in a hardware store and looked as though you might pass out.  Pull yourself together!  Third, I do not know why you bite your lip so much, it seems like a rather unnatural habit.  Lastly, you seem like an intelligent girl, you could have a good journalism career in the future, so I advise you to get out of this abusive relationship, no matter how hot Jamie Dornan is.

With love,

Callie.

Andrea Bilton
Sitting in the theater awaiting the start of Fifty Shades of Grey, I expected what anybody was bound to expect when viewing such a controversial movie. I expected a lot of heavy nudity, a slight violence factor, and graphic sexuality that pushed the brink of what is usually permitted on the big screen. But after the movie came to an end and the final credits rolled across the screen, my expectations were vastly underwhelmed. The movie was surprisingly tame, considering all of the harsh criticism surrounding it for being overtly sexual and inappropriate. I had never read the book, however I’ve heard from many about how graphic and almost disturbing the unconventional sex scenes are. However, when brought to life in the cinema, the sex scenes were brief and subtle, showing no more nudity than would be suitable for an adult romantic comedy. And the violence, although jarring in such a romantic and sexual context, was definitely not as heavily involved as I anticipated. In fact, the movie threaded the concepts of BDSM in as merely supplements to the romantic storyline- the movie was not focused primarily on these elements as many people assume. The directors of Fifty Shades of Grey definitely made the right choice of focusing the movie on the storyline and romance between the two characters of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, rather than jolting the audience with graphic sexual encounters as the book supposedly does. I entered the movie expecting to laugh at the overkill of violence and sexuality, but I left very shocked by the lack of explicit nature and touched by the love story portrayed onscreen. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, don’t be deterred by all of the hype and controversy. I promise you the movie is much tamer than it seems.